Continued

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV), which this year has completed six acquisitions worth $2 billion, on Thursday continued its shopping spree with a $2.5 billion cash offer for Texas operator Robbins & Myers (R&M). The deal would mark NOV’s biggest single acquisition since 2008, when it paid $7.7 billion to buy Grant Prideco.

Trends that surfaced last year indicate “a continued preference for crude oil and liquids-rich gas development over dry gas options,” and are likely to reduce — and possibly reverse — recent domestic dry gas production growth rates, according to a new report from Pace Global.

Trends that surfaced last year indicate “a continued preference for crude oil and liquids-rich gas development over dry gas options,” and are likely to reduce — and possibly reverse — recent domestic dry gas production growth rates, according to a new report from Pace Global.

TransCanada Corp. received the last of three key permits needed for its 485-mile Gulf Coast Project, an oil pipeline from Cushing, OK, to Nederland, TX, that would help alleviate constraints at Cushing where oil from the burgeoning Bakken Shale has been piling.

Another hot summer, combined with a continued move by power generators to switch to natural gas, has reduced the big storage overhang and should send natural gas prices higher, according to Goldman Sachs.

Noting the continuing downward spiral of forward natural gas prices during the past four years, Fitch Ratings said it expects continued weakness in gas prices to spell potential trouble for many U.S. independent electricity generators. Fitch on Thursday released a report on U.S. power markets and generators.

Fitch Ratings in a report last week said continued weakness in natural gas prices may spell trouble for many U.S. independent electricity generators.

U.S. natural gas well completions plunged by an estimated 24% from April through June, while oil well completions continued to steadily rise, according to the latest statistics from the American Petroleum Institute (API).

North Dakota continued setting new oil and natural gas production records in April, but drilling equipment shortages grew, increasing the estimated number of idle wells by 76 in April.